LONDON AND NEW YORK, August 1, 2023 – Proskauer, a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that two of its lawyers, Chris Elson and Blake Halperin, have been named as Legal Rising Stars by Private Funds CFO.
The list celebrates the achievements of the new generation of legal talent that are guiding the future of the private funds industry.
Chris Elson is a Partner in Proskauer’s Private Funds team who advises private equity and venture capital firms on fundraising and fund structuring. He advises on the full spectrum of capital raising – from multi-billion-dollar private equity “megafunds”, mid-market buyout funds, growth funds and venture capital funds. Chris remains involved in his clients’ business outside of fundraising cycles and assists sponsors in accessing all types of liquidity tools, including NAV financing and preferred equity solutions. He also advises several institutional investors on secondaries, GP-led transactions, and primary investments.
Amongst Chris’ most notable client work has been advising long-standing client Hg, a leading software investor, for close to a decade on all of its private equity fundraisings.
Blake Halperin is an associate in the Proskauer’s Private Funds team noted for his experience and expertise advising many of the industry’s most renowned sponsors and financial institutions on complex secondaries transactions. Since joining Proskauer in October 2020, Blake has led more than 200 transactions with aggregate deal value exceeding $45 billion for clients such as Apollo S3, Blackstone Strategic Partners, CPP Investment Board, FlowStone Partners, GIC, Hollyport Capital, J.P. Morgan, Lexington Partners, and Schroders, among others.
Among Blake’s most notable client work this year was his representation of Apollo S3, Blackstone Strategic Partners, and Five Arrows as the lead investors in Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company’s $425 million continuation fund and his representation of Blackstone Strategic Partners as a lead purchaser of a $5 billion portfolio of fund interests from Kaiser Permanente, which was one of the largest portfolios ever to trade on the secondary market.
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We are 800+ lawyers serving clients from 12 offices located in the leading financial and business centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. We work with asset managers, private equity and venture capital firms, Fortune 500 and FTSE companies, major sports leagues, entertainment industry legends and industry-redefining companies.
Since 1875, Proskauer has been devoted to our clients’ successes. Our lawyers are known for their unusually high accessibility, responsiveness, and attentiveness. We go the extra mile to understand a client’s business — and think like savvy businesspeople in the process.